“The child Jesus grows in various ways according to the measure of each one. He manifests Himself as a child, as an adolescent, as one fully grown” (St. Gregory of Nyssa, P.G. 44,82, 81 [as in Ages of the Spiritual Life, Paul Evdokimov, SVS Press, p. 245])
Why do so many people celebrate Christmas, even the non-Christians and those who don’t believe in God? Most likely it’s because all humans share a need to adore a newborn child. We want to do something for him, to offer a gift or to enhance the infant’s life. With Christ, we resonate to His helplessness: The birth in the cave, the humble foster father, the weary mother, the persecution by the king—all of this calls forth compassion from the depths of every human soul. And it wells forth from the same souls memories of our own infancy. Church missions start out thriving with activity when the parishioners and newcomers discover they are needed. They find a purpose in the struggles of a young, helpless congregation.
Youngsters searching for someone to share their unease with all elements of society find a special confidant in the loving Lord. The stage of intimacy: No longer do I call you servants—but I have called you friends” (John 15:15) has a special meaning to the young people who look to Jesus as a companion. I recall a hymn sung around a campfire at the YMCA summer camp when I was eight years old: “He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own—.”
Beyond puberty and in adolescence, when we struggle with the hormones raging in our glands and causing us unwanted fantasies, we resist those urges through the awareness of the same Lord who served as a paradigm of purity and innocence through a lifetime. We remain virgins to honor Him with our own wholesome lives.
Later on when we marry, Jesus becomes the welcome third partner in our wedding. From the icon of the Holy Trinity or Wedding Feast at Cana over our tables, He blesses our meals. With His unique mother, Mary the Theotokos, He watches over us as we lie asleep in our beds. With Him and in Him nothing is impossible.
As the Lamb of God He takes away our sins and nourishes our souls, for He is the spiritual food nourishing us in the sacred Eucharist. (Another name for the Bread of Life in Holy Communion is “Lamb.”)
As our Good Shepherd, He leads us on the paths of righteousness. He slakes our thirst beside still waters whenever our souls are troubled and tossed on the raging sea of life.
In His maturity He is a role model throughout our time on earth. As we honor His companionship, we struggle with the fear that we will not live up to His awesome expectations of who we are in His eyes, and who we are supposed to become as we make our way through this period of existence.
He is the light that shines through the shadows of our undeveloped souls. In His light we see the light of our salvation illumining the way to the Father’s kingdom.
And even in our advanced age, we look to Him as the living door through which we shall pass when twilight falls and evening draws near. We go on looking to Him for comfort and rest and the sheepfold of His resting place, and there to an eternity with His heavenly Father. As we grow old, what seemed so secure for decades starts to come apart. One lives in a delusion that all was in order—then the cracks appear. The family drifts apart. Children relocate. The job assumed to be secure is no longer so. Loved ones require special care outside the home, and then die. We become survivors, barely holding our heads above rising waters of life—and Jesus is there as a lifesaver. He welcomes us to another phase of existence beyond this fleeting world.